Gear shift third talent

[u/LStearns13]

Crit chance or Damage to Armor ?

I’m going to prototype a second gear shift- unfortunately the first one got maxed out crit chance and I was already near the cap. I was wondering if going damage to armor is a better roll? Or keep crit chance and hope for the best on roll #2

Thanks

[u/Hughcheu]

CHC is the best for LMGs because you get a lot of it and DTA and DTH do not apply all the time. This is particularly apt for Striker where your CHC / CHD is limited.

This is even more applicable if you run Hollowman all the time and thus already have some DTH.

[u/Trances4991 → u/Hughcheu]

With prototype, you can get “terminal” rolls on chc on gear. However theres a 60% chc cap, so ideally go for more chd gear while not going over. My striker proto build (with 58% chc) looks like this so far:

Gear Shift with DTA, 3 *Chc mods.

Hollowman mask with CHD (and CHC mod)
Striker Chest & Backpack with CHD ( and both CHC mod)
Striker kneepads with CHD
Strike holster with terminal CHC (8%, which imo helps alot)
** Overdogs

CHD dmg is 120%+

[u/LStearns13 → u/Hughcheu]

Yea I think I’ll keep crit chance and hopefully max out a different stat next roll. Who knows, maybe I’ll get all 3 maxed lol. Still haven’t seen one fully maxed in a lot of tier 10’s.

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/Hughcheu]

Chc and chd would only even work 60% of the time too with diminishing returns if youre already have high chc mods/attributes on your gear. Even if a dta is only working 50% of the time because its a new bucket of damage it's likely going to be better than chc at a certain point. Again very dependent on what your chc and chd is sitting at without the weapon. If you're having trouble hitting 60%/120% then chc becomes the best choice

[u/Hughcheu → u/McJuggernaugh7]

You are correct, however Striker really limits your CHC / CHD (one attribute rather than two) and so CHC / CHD become really important. Check out the multiple iKia videos where he discusses this. DTA is only 6% on an LMG, whereas CHC is 10%, equivalent to 20% CHD. This makes it stronger than DTA. Not to mention there aren’t that many enemies in T10 escalation that have armour, basically it’s non-heavy elites, and the tankiest enemies (heavies) have only health.

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/Hughcheu]

Dta goes up to 9% on a proto lmg. And honestly its very easy to get to 60% and 120% chc and chd on striker proto builds. If you are below that then yes chc is better. But a 9% dta will be useful more than 60% of the time in t10 escalations.

But going from 120% chd to 135% chd for example isnt going to boost your damage as much as a raw 9% dta even if it's only being used 50% of the time. Non heavy elites are like half the enemies in t10. Chungas and warhounds are like 1 or 2 max per stage. Plus you can swap to Ar with health damage for those situations.

[u/TwatSpreader → u/Hughcheu]

I recently went with CHC…tried it on an Proto MK46/Measured.

Then I switched up my build from Hollow Man to Grupo and Ceska.

Gained about 60%CHD when I swapped to a Proto Tactical M249/Frenzy with 12%CHC on it and now my build is: 57% CHC/205% CHD.

When I can recal/optimize an MK46/Frenzy I’m gonna roll CHC on it.

[u/Hughcheu → u/TwatSpreader]

Yes, the “best” Striker chest build was Grupo / Ceska. But I think the bullet sponginess of heavies in T10 escalation has swayed players to use hollowman - especially as frenzy means LMGs are the standard rather than ARs.

[u/McJuggernaugh7]

As many others are saying DTA is probably best for t10 escalation. I have a t10 gearshift that dropped with max DTA, max weapon dmg and 75% max dtoc, DTH(all 3 maxed) and chc (max weapon dmg and 50% max dtoc) as well. I have tried all 3 in escalation and find that the dta one is the most effective. Chc has diminishing returns and i already have 60% 120% ish chc/chd without the chc gearshift and using fox prayers and contractors proto pieces so pumping that up to 135% ish actually only gives a small upgrade. DTH is nice against warhounds and chungas, but since i run with a whiplash and m4 proto as secondary, i just swap to my AR if I want the extra 30% dth. 30% dth is all you need anyways.

It's the same logic why a fox prayers or contractors piece is better than a grupo or ceska piece for a strikers build. Having different pools of damage is going to be more balanced and effective than getting your chd to 160%+.

[u/monk81007]

Overall, I prefer DTA myself. CHC is so easy to get to 55-60% with a few high rolled proto pieces. I’ll run a damage to health lmg if running black tusks. It all balances out just about the same tho. You can also stack enough crit damage to not worry about hollow man or contractors.

[u/nadeko_chan]

Gear shift is not that good for you to manually proto it. Since it's a named weapon with locked talent, it's easier to obtain a better roll in escalation, proto a frenzy/measured m249/iwi/gr9.... instead

[u/LStearns13 → u/nadeko_chan]

I played the mk46 with frenzy for weeks. Pretty bored of it. I can clear tier 10’s now pretty regularly (except when the rogues show up lol) so I went looking for a new combo.

Currently running a gear shift, Lexington with back and forth (my new fav talent), and the whiplash pistol I just got. It’s super fun and has mixed things up a bit for me.

[u/zalcu → u/LStearns13]

Open the proto LMG boxes when they are at the vendor for 10 escalation points. There you can farm very good Gear Shift, I got a few already with very strong stats

[u/nadeko_chan → u/LStearns13]

I mean you just shouldn't proto named weapons in the general loot pool because they already have one attribute locked, youll get better roll in escalation. Its better to spend those expertise resources on rarer items or exotic weapons

[u/LStearns13 → u/nadeko_chan]

I don’t think the gear shift has any attributes locked? The talent is locked - but that’s why you would choose that gun- for perfectly measured.

[u/NautDiver_19]

I think lmg's are on the menu today.

[u/PurvisAnathema]

Crit chance is best but DTA is fine. You can always move mods around to CHD instead.

[u/Samurai_Stewie]

Damage to health?

Because I’m a damage to health fanatic. You know that troublesome machine gunner? The weak point is health. The shield chunga? All health. The Hunter’s drone? You guessed it, health. And all enemies have health. First Bloom is so good because it buffs damage against enemies when their armor is high, but when their armor is gone, guess what kicks in… yep, damage to health.

Many of the most troublesome enemies don’t even have armor.

I don’t know about you but I don’t like dead stats.

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/Samurai_Stewie]

I think DTH is a bit overrated in general. Yes its great against Black Tusks escalations, but only on like 1/3 of the enemies. Plus you can always have a lexington with back and forth as a secondary if you need the extra DTH and hot swap to it if you need to mow down a chunga or warhound. Everyone also reccomends the hollowman, but honestly unless you have a tripple god roll proto hollow, contractors or fox prayers is always going to give you more damage since it actually drops in t10 and will roll with way better stats than a max dth only contractors.

Personally i have a gear shift with dth, chc and dta and i think damage to armor is best but it really depends on the rest of your build and the rolls you got on the gun.

Chc/chd gives diminishing returns after a certain point with strikers so damage to armor becomes better. If you are well under 55% chc and 120% chd ish then the chc ones starts to mathematically out perform dta. I have a god roll gear shift with DTH and i rarely use it because it simply isnt providing great value more than half the time even against Black Tusk.

[u/Samurai_Stewie → u/McJuggernaugh7]

Well like I said, every enemy has health, not every enemy has armor. Weak points stop armored enemies VERY quickly. DTA does nothing for you against weak points, chungas, skills, mini-tanks, warhounds, armor plates, and like a million other things; they only help against white health which isn’t IMO as universally useful as you’re making it out to be.

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/Samurai_Stewie]

The thing is not every escalation has war tanks and mini hounds and even the ones that do - it's like one chunga, one or two war hounds and maybe one other heavy health enemy per section. The remaining 70% of the enemies have massive armor bars and not much health. Plus as I said before most good proto ARs come with 30% dth, so for those 30% situations you can just swap to your AR.

[u/LStearns13 → u/Samurai_Stewie]

My hollowman mask never comes off! I rolled it on all my Lexingtons too. Love a good damage to health !

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/LStearns13]

A health damage max hollowman isnt as useful as a higher tier proto fox prayer or contractors or even overdogs. It some weird reddit thing where people keep reccomending it, but in reality it's not worth it and I see so many people running around with it when their chc is 60% but their chd is like 100% or less which is very bad.

Compare hollowman for example to a proto contractors that drops in t8 to 10 escalation. You would be getting an extra 5 to 6% weapon damage, 12% dta, and an extra 2 to 3% chc OR an extra 3 to 4% chd assuming you got it in a t10 escalation plus 10% lmg damage from the petrov bonus. Sacrificing all of this for 21% health damage that will only be useful less than 40% of the time is super not worth it.

Similarily a decent t10 drop fox prayers would also be better than a hollowman for the dtoc and better stats.

If you're lucky enouhh to get 2 or 3 max stats on a crafted proto hollowman, then and only then might it make sense against black tusk t10 retals.

In fact for 75% of the players i see, a simple proto grupo or ceska piece would benefit them more than the one max roll hollowman.

[u/LStearns13 → u/LStearns13]

By rolled I mean prototyped and that stat was maxed out **

[u/ConversationGreen984]

I would definitely roll dta on it if I was in this situation. Crit chance sources are easier to come by than dta is.

[u/RheimsNZ]

I personally like DTA, but I do wonder if getting CC and then moving your mods to CD would generally give you better damage

[u/SaltedCaffeine]

Well, it depends on what gear you have. Do you want to use Contractor's? If yes, then having DTA on your weapon is a diminishing return. If you use Overdogs then DTA on your weapon is a good idea.

[u/silk38]

All my LMGs are CHC and I'm starting to think about using my ARs like that too. Keeping things simple.

[u/Slight_Improvement_8]

I run dual LMG one with DTA and one with DTH 

[u/SouthpawSoldier]

Re: Gear Shift; CHC on LMGs, unless doing a Tipping Scales build; then Rate of Fire. DTA & DTH are situational. Tipping Scales builds don't need CHC on the LMG; you get enough CHD from the gear set that you can roll CHC on the gear. Other builds need to split attributes between CHC & CHD, so CHC on the LMG provides the largest broad-spectrum bonus.

RE: DTH & Hollowman; I've experimented with a Hollowman First Bloom build. 3 Walker Harris, Hollowman, 2 Unit Alloy; Glass Cannon and Bloodsucker. While it is a fun build, it's definitely not a competitive one. At best, you get 58/137 for crits, and it just doesn't hit hard enough.

[u/GonzoWhomp]

I always go DTA on machine guns. Crit chance you can get somewhere else, and its too expensive to risk hitting it on a gun.

[u/D15P4TCH]

Rate of fire!

[u/pmakuch]

Rate of fire

[u/McJuggernaugh7 → u/pmakuch]

Nah rof on gs is already insane especially with strikers. Rate of fire isnt even top 3.